1910-11.] Obituary Notices. 685 
abroad were enlivened by many interesting companionships among men 
of culture of his own and other nationalities, who were attracted by his 
broad-minded views and the charm of his conversation. 
Barclay combined with his knowledge of languages a high critical 
appreciation of good literature. A great reader and endowed with a 
retentive memory, he enjoyed the friendship of many literary men. His 
interests, however, were not confined to belles-lettres. There were few 
sciences of which he had not some grasp of an order more intimate than 
what could be called merely popular, and amongst whose votaries he could 
not count friends — Janssen the distinguished French astronomer, Agassiz, 
Tait, Wyville Thomson, and many other fellows of the Royal Society. One 
great and constant interest to him was the work of the late Sir Wyville 
Thomson and Sir John Murray in connection with the Challenger expedi- 
tion. Professor Tait dedicated to him, along with the late Thomas 
Stevenson, his book on Recent Advances in Physical Science , which was 
published in recognition of their wish to have the latest theories on that 
subject disseminated more widely by being presented in a popular form, 
and so brought within the reach of those who did not lay claim to be 
scientific men. Barclay’s attitude to science may be gathered from a 
characteristic rejoinder of Tait’s, who, when somebody asked him if 
Mr Barclay was a man of science, replied, “ Mr Barclay is not a man of 
science ; he is a man intelligently interested in science .” His connection 
with the Royal Society arose partly from this “intelligent interest” in 
science and partly from his special taste for marine zoology, to which for 
some years he devoted much of his spare time. This pursuit, which entailed 
much work with the microscope and the making of very delicate drawings, 
he was reluctantly obliged to give up, as it led to an affection of sight 
which eventually caused the total loss of one eye. 
Barclay enjoyed for over thirty years the closest friendship with Dr 
John Brown, an intimacy which brought him into contact with other 
famous writers. Foremost among these were Thackeray, whose outstanding 
genius he had recognised from the first, and Ruskin. In the note to Dr 
Brown’s paper on “ Thackeray’s Death ” it is George Barclay who is referred 
to as the friend with whose help the eighty half-crowns were collected 
to buy the silver Punch inkstand inscribed “ Grati et gratae Edinensis ” 
which Thackeray said was his very first testimonial. He, too, it was who 
brought to his friend’s notice the brief story of a child’s life which Dr 
Brown amplified and embellished in the exquisite story of Pet Marjory. 
During his business connection with Leith, George Barclay’s name was 
associated with all that was most honourable and public-spirited. 
